Jason Boland & The Stragglers “Dark & Dirty Mile”
If Red Dirt spans a wide sonic palette that ranges from hard country to straight rock n’ roll—with alt-country, country rock, Southern rock, and even some country pop thrown in between—then Jason Boland is the hard-edged bookened defining Red Dirt’s country border. In other words, it is pretty difficult to be more country than Jason Boland and the Stragglers.
Jason is a true, legacy Red Dirt artist who did his time at “The Farm” near Stillwater, Oklahoma where the Red Dirt movement sprung from, rising up right beside Cody Canada, Stoney LaRue, Mike McClure and all the rest. But Boland left there not with the country rock hodgepodge sound that Red Dirt has come to be known for, but with a reaffirmation in serving country music straight, believing that the power of the story and the moan of a steel guitar or Telecaster is enough to stir the soul without having to resort to catchy rhythms or wanky guitar solos to hold people’s ears. It is with this steadfast principle that Jason Boland approached his 7th studio album, Dark & Dirty Mile.
The record immediately grips you with the opening title track and its dizzying, well-crafted verses packed with wit. That takes you into the Texas fiddle-driven, foot-shuffling 2nd song “Electric Bill,” that is a sonic treat from the very first chucks of the fiddle bow. Jason Boland understands that being hard country is not all about hard living, but about hard loving as well, and expounds on this thought in the sweet songs “Lucky I Guess” and “The Only One,” with the latter comprising one of the album’s best written songs, balancing the disenfranchisement with the direction of the world with the comfort of a loved one who understands.
Jason tends to take the time in his albums to convey a message and reflect back, and that’s what he does in the tribute song “Ludlow” about the striking miners of southern Colorado in one of the incidents given credit for stimulating America’s labor movement. The dark and low-key “They Took It Away” is one of only two songs on Dark & Dirty Mile that Boland did not write. It traverses the history of the Red Dirt homeland and the travesties that have befallen it. If you look deep, Jason Boland and Dark & Dirty Mile are quite political, but his gift is being able to bury his message just enough below the surface so that the reactionary political attitudes that keep some from enjoying the wisdom of a good song don’t come into play. Boland doesn’t preach, he tells.
The most curious track of Dark & Dirty Mile is “Green Screen,” a decidedly straight ahead rock & roll departure for both the album and Jason Boland as a whole. It’s not just the out-front drums and dirty rock organ driving the song, it is the little rhythm stops and tambourine that take this song to something you’d expect to hear from The Departed these days instead of The Stragglers. I agree with the spirit of the approach with this song, because for all of Boland’s strengths, spice is something his albums could always use a little more of. However “Green Screen” may have a little too much cayenne to fit well in this context. For all the songs on this album though, this is the one that tends to grow on you the more you listen.
Like many Red Dirt bands, I’ve always wanted just a little more from Jason Boland. His songwriting is great, but has never risen to that Corb Lund, Chris Knight caliber. As much as old school country fans love to extoll the virtues of the traditional sound, when not textured with at least a little something more unique or fresh, the sound can be limiting. Boland & The Stragglers do touch on some unique elements, like when they add accordion to their songs, and they try something new with “Green Screen,” but Jason Boland remains more of a core country artist than one that would act as a good gateway drug for your pop country friends to transition to the real stuff.
Jason Boland & The Stragglers have benefited over the years from their consistency. Even through a potentially career-ending vocal cord rupture by Boland in 2008, the band recovered to remain one of the very top-billed, mainstay acts in Texoma Red Dirt. You know what you’re going to get from a Jason Boland show and a Jason Boland song. Dark & Dirty Mile continues on with that consistency and strength, and assures that as Red Dirt grows and ages, Jason Boland & The Stragglers will still be one of the movement’s premier acts, and one preserving the country roots in the Red Dirt legacy.
1 3/4 of 2 guns up.
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May 17, 2013 @ 9:42 am
Love the album. Boland is the man. Right up there with Virgil and Felker.
May 17, 2013 @ 9:52 am
From what I’ve heard so far I really like the album just as much as any other albums from Boland, but there isn’t a song yet that really stands out for me. It sucks right now cause there is so many great albums out right now, but I can’t afford them all.
May 17, 2013 @ 10:48 am
That’s always the case for me. When I’ve gotten all of the new releases I’m interested in, a classic album peaks my interest or I remember one that I’m missing (usually several). I just ordered a few, but had to leave “Hank Williams Jr. & Friends” off because I didn’t have enough money. It was $4.21 on Amazon the other day, but when I looked back earlier this morning it had jumped to $8.00! That’s still pretty cheap, but I have to wait and it stinks.
May 17, 2013 @ 11:34 am
For my money is the heart and soul of the country side of the Texas/Red Dirt music scene. Great album. Dark and Dirty Mile the track is the stand out for me. Great song with something to say. Never seen a bad Boland show and i’ve seen at least a dozen of them over almost as many years. Consistent he is.
May 17, 2013 @ 11:53 am
Thanks so much for this review. I hadn’t been following if they were releasing a new album this year. This might supplant “In Time” as my top Country album of the year.
Every time I’m about to give up on country, and focus on alt-country/americana only, someone like Boland comes along and says “how about one more chance?”
May 17, 2013 @ 12:11 pm
Nice cd I’m really spoiled by artists like this. I got the new George Strait from emusic and I must say this cd out shines it.
May 17, 2013 @ 12:51 pm
This album is pretty great, but I love that you don’t even include that Shooter JEnnings produced this record. Of course. That’s how you do it Trigger!
May 17, 2013 @ 1:59 pm
Yes, that is how I do it. I rarely include info about producers in my album reviews, except for when it is specifically topical to the points being made. And yes, please check if you wish to verify if this is true. It is my belief that producer’s names should be relegated to the small print of the inner flap of albums, and it is always an insult when a producer’s name, whether it is Shooter Jennings, T Bone Burnett, or anyone elses, precedes the name of the artist or the album, or even when it is included on an equal level. The role of a producer is to be subordinate and in the shadows, and any other time it is brought up is sheer marketing. I didn’t mention Shooter because I really didn’t take anything away from the production of this album. Aside from “Green Screen,” it sounds very similar to all the Jason Boland’s albums I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. I didn’t mention Jason Boland in the producer role either. However I did mention Shooter as producer in my review of Fifth on the Floor, because it was topical to the discussion. (https://savingcountrymusic.com/album-review-fifth-on-the-floors-ashes-angels) So there goes your little theory that this is “how I do it.”
Hopefully the fact that your stupid little theory holds no water doesn’t get in the way of you being awarded scene points for trying to drag Jason Boland and this review into an issue that both primary belligerents have moved on from. As I have said many times, it’s not as much Shooter or I that are to blame for the continuance of this back and forth, but the little sniveling scensters trying to curry favor.
May 17, 2013 @ 2:39 pm
and now albums are starting to credit “executive producer” WTF is that?
lmao
great response and thanks for the movie clip
May 17, 2013 @ 3:09 pm
A pretty diehard Boland fan myself, but I’m still not too sure how I feel about this album just yet, and I agree about “Green Screen.” I fell in love with Rancho Alto immediately but I’m guessing (hoping) this one’ll be a grower.
Either way, glad he threw in a Crouch tune and hope the album sells well because that old hippie deserves the royalty checks.
May 18, 2013 @ 12:17 am
I got into this one quicker and easier than Rancho Alto myself. I’m a pretty big fan and am thankful I have this album on MP3 so I don’t have to worry about wearing it out, it has seen a lot of plays from me so far.
May 17, 2013 @ 10:27 pm
I have been a big fan of Jason since Comal County Blue. I love his work and I am glad that he put out a new album for me to play the hell out of.
May 18, 2013 @ 8:12 am
I love this album, I haven’t taken it out of my cd player all week.
May 18, 2013 @ 8:59 am
This is a great album. Boland and the Stragglers really need to get big.
May 19, 2013 @ 4:59 pm
Jason is always who you expect him to be. Love his music and his shows are always awesome. I give Shooter credit, no surprises, he let Jason do his thing. Jason can often remind me of Waylon, maybe to Shooter too.
May 20, 2013 @ 3:23 pm
From the first album and the first show I saw him play Waylon was who Boland put me in mind of. Vocally plus some of the sonic qualities of alot of his song arangements even some of the songwriting.
May 22, 2013 @ 9:57 am
“Like many Red Dirt bands, I”™ve always wanted just a little more from Jason Boland. His songwriting is great, but has never risen to that Corb Lund, Chris Knight caliber.”
That’s really what separates Red Dirt from Texas Country though. Nonetheless, Jason Boland is one of the best songwriters of(near) the Red Dirt genre. But then he’s not really as Red Dirt sounding either. Like there’s some kind of correlation between good song writing and being more Texas Country than Red Dirt. It’s actually what I tend to focus on when I listen to country now.. Maybe somebody with better knowledge about music theory and all that can explain it to me…
May 31, 2013 @ 8:45 pm
I’d heard “Dark and Dirty Mile” on 92.9 out of Waco daily for a few weeks, and read Trigger’s review, but I hadn’t had a chance to listen to the whole album for myself until yesterday. (Bought it at Hastings on my lunch break.)
It’s a good album, with more good songs than bad. In fact, there are no truly bad songs, just a few that aren’t my particular taste.
What I didn’t expect, was the amount of depth there really is in the instrumentals throughout the album ( a lot of red dirt/Texas country is lacking here at times, but not this album, crappy radio at work didn’t do the title track justice at ALL, stereo in my truck did.), nor the fact that there would be a 2nd song behind “Dark and Dirty Mile” that’s just as deep (“They Took It Away”).
Most of the rest is what you’d expect from Jason though, which is a good thing.
June 17, 2013 @ 5:17 pm
Glad to hear this got a good review. I’m a big Boland fan, but due to money issues I haven’t had the chance to get this album even though I want to badly. I’m sure I could find a download, but I refuse to download albums from bands like JB&S, so I’ll just have to wait. Boland wasn’t the first Red Dirt/Texas Country band I heard, but he was the first I really got in too and was what really drove my interest into finding others. He also puts on a great live show too. With also being a big punk rock fan, I really enjoy his songs that have some sort of political message.